About

Shadowforces was set up to become a plattform for open minded people within the electronic music scene, especially for those who prefer the darker side of bass heavy dancefloor music. Our aim is to put out quality sounds of more or less known talents from around the globe.

XILENT

Originally hailing from Warsaw in Poland, Xilent aka Eryk Kowalczyk is one of the most exciting hottest talents in the Drum and Bass scene today.
Growing up with a qualified conductor for a Mum, and a Father playing the Drums , It was always likely that Eryk would be involved in music.

From a very young age, growing up in Poland, Eryk Kowalczyk was exposed to the classics of 80s pop, funk and soul by his parents, both of whom were professional musicians. With his mother being a qualified conductor, violinist and pianist, and his father a drummer and singer in various bands, Eryk was constantly surrounded by music in many different forms.

A young, inquisitive Eryk first cut his teeth trying to produce his own music on a crude Propellerhead Rebirth RB-338 at the tender age of eight years old. Initially attempting to make a mix of House and Acid Techno, the aspiring producer began his career by recording his creations through a PC speaker to cassette and later showing them to his friends at primary school.

As the years went by, Eryk found himself immersed in Trance and heavier sounds from artists like The Crystal Method and The Prodigy. The first Drum & Bass CD he ever came across was a compilation album in 1999 entitled, ‘Future Grooves – Essential Drum & Bass’. This was the first time he had ever heard music with a higher BPM than 150. He immediately fell in love with this new style of music and became influenced by such Drum & Bass pioneers as John B, DJ Rap, Future Cut, Adam F, and Calyx.

In the following years Xilent experimented with production in a range of styles ranging from Techno to Breakbeat, but it was in Drum & Bass that Eryk found his forte. His musical influences would not be lost on his production values though, with the Techno and Trance influences of uplifting pads and heart-breaking breakdown melodies, along with the technical and sequencing influences of Breakbeat.

Xilent’s first release came in 2009 on Ammunition Recordings ‘Quality Killer EP’ with the track ‘Terminal’, which was called a “drum and bass anthem” and “one of the biggest tracks of 2009” by top electronic music shop TrackItDown.net. The tune immediately caught the ear of John B, who subsequently signed a number of tunes to his own Beta Recordings imprint.

Now living in Scotland where he studies Sound Production at University, Xilent has continued to improve his production techniques, while also DJing throughout Europe, supporting Spor at the main stage of the Audioriver Festival in 2010. Although light-years from his crude beginnings working on Propellerhead, incredibly Xilent has only been producing regularly for less than three years, and until recently only used a laptop and a pair of Sennheiser headphones to produce his epic sounding tracks. Now with a full studio of gear, Xilent is armed and ready to take things to even greater heights.

2011 is set to truly be a breakthrough year for Xilent as he has now co-signed exclusively to AudioPorn Records and Mainframe Recordings. AudioPorn is the brainchild of former Ram Trilogy member and Drum & Bass legend, Shimon. Always at the forefront on the search for fresh new sounds, AudioPorn was the label that first introduced Dirtyphonics to the masses and pushed genre boundaries with hits like ‘Quarks’, ‘Teleportation’, ‘Vandals’, ‘History Of The Future’, and ‘Vengeance’. Meanwhile, DisasZt’s Mainframe Recordings has had a meteoric rise since its inception in 2008, being the label who burst Camo & Krooked onto the scene and released their debut album, ‘Above & Beyond’.

Xilent is now preparing to make his debut on AudioPorn with the highly anticipated ‘Choose Me EP’, featuring an Electro House and Dubstep mix of the underground sensation, ‘Choose Me’. With over 15,000 plays in less than a week on his own Soundcloud account, ‘Choose Me’ has caused a massive stir online and is set to be an anthem in the making. The EP will also feature two Drum & Bass tunes, truly showing the amazing range of a producer much his senior.